Forever Shouldn't Be This Long
by Wind Crystal
Summary: Claire and her dad have just moved into a tiny town with a reputation of disappearances. Then, Claire gets sucked into her favorite video game! Somehow, it all clicks together in this wonderful tale of friendship, hope, love, and utter crazyness!
1. Not One Of My Best Days

**A Quick Note: Thanks for reading my fanfic! This is my first one, and I'm a sucker for detail, so it's kinda boring at first. Don't worry, it gets better.Enjoy!**

**Disclamer: I don't own Harvest Moon.**

Where was I now? Oh, right. Our new farm.

I rolled over in bed without opening my eyes. It was warm and soft under the covers, and I really, really, really did not wanna get up, but the alarm clock was screaming out the 'Top 40 Hits Of The 90's' loudly enough to make my ears ring. Curse myself for putting that evil dream-interrupting contraption all the way on the other side of the room…

Finally, unable to take the crashing music any longer, I stretched, yawned, and forced myself out of bed. As I stumbled off the mattress, I stepped on my left roller skate (the right had been missing since last Tuesday). My leg shot out from under me, and I fell against the dresser, knocking my perfume bottles over like dominoes, the last one opening as it fell to dump its contents on my head.

Great. Now I smelled like a bag of Sour Skittles.

Normally, I'm a morning person. I like the morning. Apparently, though, the morning had a grudge against me today…

I pulled my red dragon-print robe on over my purple shorts and tank top (my pajamas of choice on hot August nights like last night), pulled on some striped socks, and pounded the snooze button on my sole enemy: the evil alarm clock. Ahhh…..silence at last….

As I made my way to the bathroom, I paused at the chrome-framed hallway mirror to make sure my hair wasn't all over the place.

Unfortunately, it was.

I sighed and reached for the hairbrush that, surprisingly, was always left exactly were I would next need it. My hair tangled way too easily. After an amazingly painful fifty seconds, my hair was back to normal, sort off. I glanced again in the mirror. The face I say was the same one I've known all my life. Shoulder-length wavy blonde hair that was usually under a baseball cap. Sky blue eyes. Silver-and-periwinkle braces.

"Hello, Claire" I said to my reflection. I paused for a second longer, then giggled at myself and headed to the bathroom.

After I had brushed my teeth and whatnot, I wandered down the hallway to the stairs, slid down the banister with a squeal of delight, then half waltzed, half dashed, half stumbled into the tiny kitchen, where my dad was sitting at the round wood table, munching on toast and reading the newspaper.

"Good morning Claire" He said, not even looking up from his paper. "I heard a crash a few minutes ago. Does it have anything to with the fact that you smell like a fruit basket?"

"First off, it's not a fruit basket. It's a bag of Sour Skittles." I retorted lightly, sticking a frozen bagel in the toaster oven. "Second, I slipped on a roller skate and knocked perfume on my head. I'll wash it out right after breakfast."

"Too bad. I like the smell of Sour Skittles."

I grinned. Dad was funny in one of those ways that's quiet and makes you laugh when you least expect it.

_BING! _The toaster oven was telling me that my bagels were done. I transferred the golden-brown rings of dough from toaster oven to plate, then dug the cream cheese out our overstocked fridge and began to literally bury the bagel in cream cheese.

"Heads up" Dad tossed me a banana. I caught it before it smacked me in the face and joined Dad at the wooden table. He was still in his pajamas (same as mine, but gray) and, close up, I could see the dark circles around his eyes.

"Didn't get much sleep last night?" I inquired as I poured myself a glass of orange juice.

"I was working on the first chapter of _Ruby Heart_." Dad finally folded up his paper and looked at me. He had mussy dark brown hair, almost black, but his eyes were the same shade of sky blue as mine.

"Did you finish?"

"Yes, but I hit a major block at Chapter 2"

"Why?"

"How should Jesse met the Lost Ones?"

I sat back farther in my chair, thinking and sipping my orange juice. This was tough…

You see, dad is a writer. The famous novelist Jonathan P. Linkel, to be exact. In the past, he has written some great books, like _Alone, But Surrounded_ and the romantic comedy _Memoirs of a High School Dropout_, but recently he hit a major block. So we moved into a farm in a tiny Wisconsin town called Maplestar. The place is actually pretty cool, with an arcade and lots of farms and even one of those old-time movie theaters that costs a nickel to get in, then shows you a short Western and the local news and an animated cartoon AND the main movie. Best of all, it has a mystery that Dad is writing about: Children suddenly, for no reason, disappear without a trace. This started in about early January, and Dad moved here as soon as he heard about it, which was just a month ago. We had finally moved in five days ago, and were already taking care of the eight chickens (Jamie, Little Peep, Peggy-Sue, Bo, Zoey, Cluckers, Chibi, and Storm), two sheep (Snowball and Snowflake), two cows (Missy and Elizabeth), my dog (Cracker, but it's a girl), and our two horses ( Candy is mine, Ghost is Dad's). I'm surprised at how well we've adapted to the work. I really love it, actually.

Like a crack of lightning to my brain, I had an idea. "What if, after the Snatchers took her, she escaped and found them?"

"Perfect!" Dad's eyes brightened at this new suggestion. He grew quiet again, lost in thought. Dad's brain was like an oven, baking half-formed ideas and thoughts into the wonderful, sugary, sweet cakes and pies that are books. His little ink-and-paper paintings were always dedicated to 'My sweet daughter, Claire' or 'My lovely wife Diana, whom I miss so much'. Mom had died when I was twelve.

"You know…"Dad mused, jerking me out of my thoughts. "We never got you a welcome present, did we?"

Dad and I always exchanged presents when we moved somewhere new. I had given Dad a new coffee mug two days ago, but I thought that he had forgotten to give a gift to me.

Until now.

Now we stood in front of a store called 'Kunt's Games', which was the local video game shop. Dad was taking me to buy 'Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town', which has got to be the coolest game out there. I'm a Harvest Moon fanatic, if you can't already tell.

A bell rang somewhere as I pushed open the door and ran into the store, up to the counter.

"Slow down, the game's not going anywhere!" Dad called from behind. As he reached the counter, a man seemed to pop out of nowhere behind the counter.

"Good afternoon. How may I help you?" He wheezed. His hair was short, unevenly cropped grey, with eerie slate-colored eyes that made me shiver. A nametag on his shirt said his name was Ronald Kunt.

Yes, thanks. Do you happen to have a copy of…uh…what was that game, Claire?" Dad tuned to me, unable to remember the name.

"'Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town'" I breathed. Those eyes were so…unnatural…

"Oh, a Harvest Moon fan, are ya?" Mr. Kunt grinned. His teeth were yellow and crooked. I didn't like that grin. There was some thing about it that made the temperature of the store drop about twenty degree. It seemed almost…evil…

Mr. Kunt ducked out of sight again. There was a rustling of boxes, then her reappeared, holding a tiny grey something. He put it on the counter. I cautiously picked it up. It was the game.

"Ten bucks, no tax." The old man croaked, and Dad handed over the money.

As we left the store, Dad was saying excitedly, "He'll be great as the head of the Snatchers, huh?"

"Sure, great. Wonderful." I said without really knowing what that words that came out of my mouth actually meant. Just before the door closed, I glanced over my shoulder again at Mr. Kunt. He looked straight at me and flashed another wicked grin.

Finally! Some time to myself! I had finally finished the chores, and Dad was off riding Ghost somewhere. Now I could play my new game!

I sat on a wooden crate next to the stall that my beautiful chestnut-colored horse, Candy, stood eating oats. Crackers was curled up on my lap, happy that I was scratching him between his floppy ears. Dogs are so easy to please.

A grin spread across my face as I turned on my freshly charged Gameboy DS. I selected the regular Gameboy game, and seconds later it was on the opening theme of 'Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town'. My heart thumping with the excitement known only to those who have bought a new Harvest Moon game, I pressed 'Start'

The screen began to change. It was now a swirling blend of colors. Curious, I tapped the screen.

Now my finger was stuck to the screen.

I tried to pull it off, but it was like my whole hand was being sucked into the little contraption. I tried to scream, but I couldn't. My voice seemed to have disappeared. Is there such a thing as being too scared to scream?

Now half my arm had disappeared into the tiny machine. There were tears pouring down my face. The last thing I can remember was Candy's nervous whinnies, Cracker's frightened whimpers, and my own pure, sheer terror, before everything seemed to fade into black mist.

Black mist, and fear.

**Please R&R, and I'll update this soon. Thanks again for reading! bye for now!**


	2. I End Up In Loonyville

**Finally! Update complete! It took forever but its done! Enjoy! And big thanks to all who commented.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon**

Where was I now? Oh, right. Our new fa-

Wait, wasn't I here already? I was curled up in my warm, soft bed, the covers wrapped around me like a cocoon, my eyes still closed. My alarm clock wasn't making its usual racket, so I must have forgotten to set it.

Then the horrible memories of Mr. Kunt and black mist came back to me so fast, it felt like someone had smacked me and then dumped a bucket of ice water on my head. I actually felt dizzy.

Jeez, what a crazy dream. I yawned and pulled myself out of bed, chuckling at myself. Gotta stop eating so many cookies before bed…

But then my heart seemed to freeze solid as I stared around my room, because it wasn't my room. My room was painted red, with posters of dragons and lions and dogs and witty little one-liners plastered all over.

This room was pale bare wood with a red rug on the floor and a TV and a table in the center and a full-length mirror on the wall and a kitchen in the corner. There were also two doors.

I walked, almost like I was sleepwalking, over to the mirror. I needed proof that I was still myself. I took a deep breath, then stepped in front of the mirror…

…And screamed.

My reflection wasn't me. It couldn't be me. The girl in the mirror looked to be about in her early twenties, but I was only fourteen. Her hair was long, smooth, silky, and straight. She had no braces. Only the eyes remained the same, big and blue. She looked almost like a cartoon. What, why am I saying 'she'? This _'she'_ was really _me!!!!!!_

Without warning, the door behind me burst open, and a girl's voice yelled "What happened? Who's here?"

I whirled around to face the intruder. It was a girl. She looked to be about my age, or the reflection's age, or… I'm just confusing myself. She looked to be in her early twenties. Her eyes were blue like mine, but more like the color of Windex, or maybe the fall sky. Her hair was this pale orange-red, like fallen leaves, and tied into a braid that was held secure by a huge snow-white bow. She was the very essence of autumn, even though she had that same cartoon-ish air to her that everything else in this crazy nutburger of a world had.

"Who are you?" I whispered, backing up against the wall. For all I knew, she was a deranged lunatic with a knife hidden in the pocket of her overalls.

The girl looked at me like _I_ was the lunatic. "Who are _you_?"

"I asked first." I retorted.

"I'm not saying until you tell me." The girl argued back.

"Well, I won't tell you who I am until after you tell me who you are."

"You first."

"No, _you_ first."

"You"

"You!"

"You!!!

"YOU!!!!!!"

"Look…" Said the girl with a sigh of impatience. "This is getting us nowhere. Why don't we just flip a coin?"

I nodded. I couldn't believe I was doing this. I pinched myself, just to make sure this wasn't just some wacky dream brought on by horror movies and too much chocolate before bed. It hurt a lot, which meant only one thing.

Unless I was pinching myself in my sleep, this wasn't a dream.

The mystery girl pulled out a coin- I had never seen anything like it, oval-shaped and golden with the letter G on it- and tossed it into the air, saying as she did so, "Heads I go, tails you go."

"Which is which?" I asked as the little gold disk plinked to a stop at my feet.

"Heads is G side, tails is plain side. What is it?" Ms. Physical-Form-of-Fall pointed at the little coin resting before my sneakers.

I cautiously bent down and examined the coin, keeping one eye on the nameless girl, just to make sure she didn't stab the back of my neck with a fork. Hey, I know it sounds crazy and paranoid, but what am I supposed to think? I just got dumped in some weirdo world, I suddenly grew about seven more years and turned into a cartoon, and now some random girl who looks like autumn turned human just walks in here and wants to know my name!?! This was all happening just a little to fast for my B-average brain to comprehend…

"Well?" The girl was tapping her foot impatiently.

"Tails" I said emotionlessly. I straightened up and looked at this girl, whoever she was. If I was already a loony, there was no harm in telling my name to another loony. "My name's Claire."

"Great. I'm Ann." The girl, Ann, held out her hand for me to shake. I looked at her for a second that felt more like an hour, then shook. Ann turned around and opened the door. "Follow me"

I shrugged and followed her. What else could I do?

The moment I stepped outside the room, I was in a state of functioning coma-like shock. There were a couple of tiny buildings scattered across the grass-and-dirt field, all looking dirty and worn-down. Ann and I had just stepped out the largest, which was in best shape. In the tiny doghouse, I saw, curled up a sleep in a sunbeam, Cracker! How had he gotten here?

Now matter how big of a shock Cracker was, it was nothing compared to what was waiting in the center of the meadow-like pasture.

A huge field of pure, dark dirt that had must've one been excellent farming soil, but was now choked with weeds and rocks and sticks and stumps and withered crops. It was breathtaking and sad at the same time. I turned to say something to Ann- what that something was, I didn't quite know- but she was busy securing a scrap of paper to the leg of a magnificent reddish-brown hawk. A second later, Ann stepped back and the hawk took to the skys, a dot of chocolate on endless blue cloth. Ann turned and walked down the nearest pathway, me following along like a stray puppy. I could here a bell ringing somewhere, rich and deep like those bells you hear in the old black-and-white movies coming from the church on Christmas.

Ann looked back over her shoulder at me as we walked, the path under our feet gradually exchanging packed, worn dirt for palest pink cobblestones. She had one of those looks on her face that I get a lot, like she's just seen a mouse try to operate a wrecking ball. I think she must have noticed me repeatedly pinching myself on the arms, just to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

I wasn't.

"Here we are" My guide announced after a few minutes, stopping so suddenly that I actually walked into her. As I scrambled to my feet again, I looked around. We appeared to be standing in front of an inn of some kind. It was the largest building on the street (a grand total of two stories high), and its walls were peppered with windows all over. The church bell had stopped ringing, too. How far had we walked? I was too busy pinching myself to notice my surroundings, and my normal sense of time was long gone…

Ann shook her head sadly "Honestly, when you're in a strange place, you need to look, and know your way around. Especially in this town."

What? What did she know?!? How many times was she ever in my situation?!? She doesn't even know me!

Whatever…" I did my best to appear uninterested, but I think she saw through to my rage. Then Ann did something so amazing and unexpected, I nearly fell over again.

She smiled. Looked at me and smiled. And not like one of those fake, cheesy smiles. Not a smile that says 'I'm, like, a million times better than you will ever be'. It was a real smile. A nice smile. Like we were friends.

Amazing.

"Don't worry. I know exactly how yu feel. Brace yourself for a shock…" Ann held open the door and gestured inside.

HUH?!?!?!?!! What was that supposed to mean?!?! She know how I felt?!?!!? They only way she could now that is if she spent a month in the Crazy House!!! I looked at her in a mild state of shock, then walked inside and was greeted by the most surprising sight I've seen so far.

People. Lots of people. Staring at me. I felt my face turn red. I hate it when people stare at me.

Ann suddenly grabbed my wrist, pulled me through the silent crowd, and sat me down in a chair at a table right in front of the staring crowd.

I hate being stared at. I wasn't good with crowds. This was bad.

"Who's that?" Came a slightly high pitched voice from somewhere near the front. I glanced at her, then did a double take. This girl's hair was PINK!!!! Bright, bubble gum PINK!!! What the heck? Can hair even BE that shade of pink, even with hair dye?!?!!?

This place just gets crazier and crazier.

"Everybody, this is Claire" Ann said. It felt like she was conducting one of those circles for people to confess/get over stuff. I half expected everyone to say 'Hi, Claire' in a flat, monotone voice.

"Last name?" Some kid in the back called.

"My full name is Claire Emily Linkel." I answered.

"Linkel? Did she say 'Linkel'? _The_ Claire Linkel?" People were whispering. They must have read Dad's books.

"Yes, Jonathan Linkel's daughter." I called, a bit ticked that everyone was so shocked. This happened whenever I met anyone…

"OK, we all know that's a shock." Ann was standing on the table, calling for everyone to pay attention. "Now that we know who she is, we have to explain-"

"Explain what?" Yelled a boy just visible between that pink haired girl and some guy with a purple bandana. "Why should we tell her anything?"

"If she's stuck here, she's gonna have to know what's going on!" Ann yelled back, then turned to my and said in a regular voice "Sorry. My brother, Gray, is always a rude socially-challenged moron."

"Am not" The guy, Gray or whatever, was standing on another table, shouting.

"Are too!" Ann argued.

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"I am not a moron!"

"Then explain the F in math!"

"You always overreact!"

It was official: I had landed myself in Loonyville.

I took the fact that by now _everyone _was taking sides as an opportunity to look around and learn what the citizens of Loonyville were like. I could count ten people so far, but there were probably more: that pink-haired girl, Ann, Gray, another pink haired girl, a guy in a purple bandana, a brunette girl who was looking really ticked off, some girl near the back with glasses, a guy that looked like he could be a doctor, some girl with short hair in a poofy dress, and yet another girl with shoulder-length blonde hair and glasses, standing on the table with Gray and yelling at Ann.

Wait a second, that girl was a _guy_!!!!! Sheesh, talk about embarrassing. I thought he was a she. Jeez…

That brunette girl that was really ticked off finally yelled, "Everybody just shut up and let Ann talk!!!" and everyone fell silent.

"Thanks Karen" Ann let out a sigh of relief. Karen just nodded as if to say, 'I hear ya, now get on with it.!'

Ann got the message and turned to me. "Well, it's about time you knew what was going on. How you heard of the Maplestar Vanishings?"

"Of course." I said. What did she know about Maplestar? How did she know about the missing kids? A nagging suspicion tugged at the back of my mind, but that was impossible. I couldn't be true.

Ann looked at each face in the crowd for no more than a millisecond. They all had an expression on their faces that told that what Ann was about to say hurt them, but it had to be said. Ann turned back to me, took a deep breath and said, "We're the missing kids"

I guess my nagging suspicion was right after all. The sorrowful, determined honesty in her voice completely stripped me of the ability to doubt her.

"What?" I finally managed to say.

"Claire…" Ann sat down beside me "You're in Mineral Town. You bought More Friends of Mineral Town from Kunt, and it sucked you in when you turned it on. It happened to me, too. It happened to all of us."

Her voice was to honest to doubt. But this was impossible. This whole story was some kind of wacky dream.

But it wasn't. It was all real.

"Now you're one of us." Ann continued. I wished that she would stop talking. The faster she stopped talking, the less sick I felt. "You're in this game. That farm is yours now. Were're all trying to get out, but…" Ann looked around at everyone again. "There's no way out. You're stuck in this game until we find a way back home. But after four years of searching, we haven't found anything."

"Then keep looking!" I yelled. There were tears on my cheeks. I wanted Mom. I wanted Dad. I wanted to wake up and find out this was just some dream.

"We look every second of our lives." Ann said solemnly.

"Look harder!" I said. This was too much.

"How much harder can we look?" Ann reasoned.

I was out of words. I was close to throwing up. I've never missed my parents so much.

Ann must have sensed this, because she changed the subject "If you need any help with anything, ask any of us. I'm good with horses and run the Inn, Popuri and Lillia take care of the Chicken farm, Mary runs the library, Rick is in charge of the Cow & Sheep farm, Mary runs the library, Elli and Trent are the medics, Carter is the church guy, Gray is blacksmith, and Cliff takes care of the Winery."

Now I was in shock. "If everyone wants to get home so badly, why do you continue your lives so…so…normally!?!?!?!"

Ann glanced around to everyone one more time before saying, "It's the only thing that keeps us sane"

**Please R&R. Sorry Gray-fans for calling him a moron, I just thought sibling rivalry would add a nice touch. Sorry Rick-lovers for mistaking him for a girl, I thought it wopuld be funny. Stay tuned for more! Thanks for reading!**


	3. My Friends in Mineral Town Lol

**Finally, chapter is up. Took forever! BTW, people, I already know who Claire is gonna end up with. **

**Well, enough blah blah blah from me. Last we saw of Claire, she had a lot of heavy info dumped on her. Now what? Keep reading! Enjoy! (Wow, I sound stupid...)**

Air. I needed air. Air is hard to get when your lungs won't work.

It had been a few minutes since the meeting had ended. Most everyone had left then, but Ann stuck around to tell me that she would be sleeping over at my house tonight.

"Why?" I had asked.

"You really wanna sleep in that place _alone_?" Ann countered.

I didn't. When someone's sleeping over, it's like having a big soft teddy bear: you're less scared cuz you have someone there to depend on. Even if that person was a random crazy girl in a random crazy town. At least I knew she wouldn't kill me in my sleep. I hope…

Now I was walking down the rosy cobblestone street, not looking or caring where I was going. That little inn had been closing in around me and the walls had begun to spin. I needed out. I needed a nice, calm, quiet place to clear my brain. So I had gone outside to look for such a place. Then, like a life raft to my drowning subconscious, I saw it. A tiny church.

A church, as far as I know, was nice and calm and quiet.

I was now running full, speed toward the huge wood doors, crashing trough them into the church.

It was beautiful! And not poofy pink cute or fake-y beautiful or beautiful in one of those ways that says 'I am a place of beauty. Do not touch, blink, breathe, or think about anything other than my beauty in my presence'. The carpet was warm green, the walls and ceiling a lovely clear shade of blue with wisps and streaks and dots and puffs of white that looked like clouds. Near the ceiling were huge windows that let in all the sunlight and gave the place a cheerful kind of aura. Painted onto that molded thing where floor meets wall- I had to crouch down to see them properly- were flowers: marigolds, violets, double daisy, pansies, primrose, yellow deadnettle… At the other end of the church was a small podium, and behind that an immense stained glass window of a sunrise-lit meadow. And there was a hint of fragrance in the air. Peppermint? Candyfloss? Flowers? Lemons? Apple pie? I had no idea, but I liked it.

"Hello!" called a friendly voice from one of the chair things- I think they're called pews, or something- nearest the podium. It was a lighted-haired guy, smiling and waving a hello.

"Hi!" I responded, dashing up to meet him. It was nice to see a friendly face for a change. I was feeling better already.

"My name's Carter." The guy held out a hand to shake.

I shook it, saying as I did so "Nice to meet ya. I'm Claire"

Carter nodded and smiled again. He had a round, pleasant, honest face, and the lightest brown eyes I've ever seen. He seemed like the kind of guy you could talk to about anything without him laughing at you or thinking that you were stupid. A guy you could trust. "Could you help me with something?" He asked.

I shrugged "Sure"

"Well, this is gonna sound really stupid, but my friend's real shy. Doesn't talk at all. I'm pretty sure something happened before he got sucked in… Anyway, do ya think you could say hi to him? You seem to be one of those people that attracts a lot of friends."

"How did you know?"

"I can just tell. Aura, I guess. I can just guess what people are like" Carter said. "So, will you help me?"

So, the "talk to the shy person to help make 'em less shy" gig. Done it many times. People said I was 'perky' or had an 'infectious personality'. I just kinda went with the flow, and met a bunch of great people through the "talk to the shy person to help make 'em less shy" gig. I was always the 'talk' person, and my new buddies had always been the 'shy person'. It was really fun, actually. I met me pen pal, a shy but flirtatious 16-year-old girl named Zoey, this way. So I said "Yah, sure. Where is he?"

"Out back" Carter gestured to a door in the corner. "Good luck!"

"Thanks!" I quietly opened the small door and slipped outside. It was a simple forest kind of thing, with a tiny porch and nothing else. At the end of the porch sat a boy. I couldn't see his face because he was positioned facing the opposite direction. I made my way towards him, but he quickly held up his hand for silence.

"Don't move" He whispered, so soft I could barely hear him. I froze, mid-step, looking pretty dumb with one leg half in the air. I could see now that he was hunched over a pad of paper, drawing. He kept glancing up a little grey bird that was hopping on the ground a few yards away. I assumed the bird was his drawing subject. Another bird trilled somewhere in the trees, like a signal, for the dove-like creature took off, flapping wings almost audible. I continued my walk to the guy. He was still sketching, probably from memory.

"Hi!" I said, cheerfully as I could. Cheerful worked better than quiet, I had found after many years of practice.

He looked up at me, his eyes meeting mine. I almost gasped. I've never seen eyes like that, an intense dark creamy chocolate color, gentle as well as strong. But faded strength, like all life had been sapped from him, then only halfway returned. "Are you talking to me?" He asked. He looked surprised.

"Y-yes. Of course!" Please say he didn't notice please say he didn't notice please say he didn't notice…

"Hi…Name's Cliff…" He seemed genuinely perplexed that I was talking to him.

"Great! I'm Claire" Thank goodness I got the cheery voice back. I held out my hand. Cliff shook it for a grand total of one second, then continued drawing. I took this second-long opportunity to take in his appearance. Everything about him was chocolate. Light skin that had a very faint milk chocolate tan to it. Long-ish dark chocolate hair tied into a kind of messy ponytail thing. White chocolate and milk chocolate shirt and pants. Complex chocolate eyes. He was actually pretty handsome.

"Whatcha drawn'?" I asked, trying to look over his shoulder at his notebook. Ack! Too preppy! I sounded way too preppy!!

Cliff shrugged.

"May I see?" I held out my hand for the notebook. Cheerful, non-preppy, not too formal. Perfect.

"Drop the act. I know what you're trying to do." There was a slight edge to Cliff's voice. "Carter told you to come out and say hi to me, right?"

OK, maybe not so perfect. "How did…"

"Carter's always doing this. It's getting really annoying. And I hate it that people will come out and act all peppy and happy and cheerful, pretend to be a friend, then I find out that they only talk to me because Carter told them to. They don't care at all"

"I can see where that could get annoying" Back to my regular voice. I had been through the same thing, many times over. A girl would put a friendly front, get some money or test answers or something from me, then just ditch me like she was tossing away some old used tissue.

"Yah" He said

I nodded. Something fell into my lap. It was the notebook. I looked at it for a second, then looked at Cliff. He was looking in the opposite direction. I looked back at the notebook, at his drawing.

I gasped for real. I knew he was only sketching with a pencil, but this looked like it was ready for some great, prestigious museum of art. The shadows, the face, the feet, the feathers. It was all so perfect, so clear, so delicate. Like it would flutter off the page at any second, out into the blue sky, following its counterpart.

"It's terrible, isn't it?" Cliff said without looking at me.

"N-no! I-it's beautiful!" 'Beautiful was inadequate to describe it.

"You really think so?" Cliff looked over at me. His eyes were slightly wide. He honestly thought I was joking!

"No way! I…It…M-more than beautiful than words can describe!" I looked at him. Our eyes met. Our noses were only two inches apart. I felt my cheeks turn pink.

Cliff blinked and pulled away, picked up his notebook again. I think this was awkward for him, too. "If you want, I'll draw you…"

"Really?" No way! A professional artist wanted to draw me?! Well, OK, maybe he wasn't professional, but his drawings were. You know what I mean, right?

"If you want…"

"_YES_!!" I squealed. Sorry, but I've always wanted a 'professional portrait' of me. Call me selfish, but it's true…

Cliff smiled. He had a nice smile. "OK, let's get started!"

It wasn't easy, but it was fun. First came the twenty-minute ordeal of finding a pose. I eventually settled on cross-legged sitting, chin resting on one hand, tiny mischievous smile on my face. Then the drawing- a full hour of sitting in that position, not moving, barely even breathing. All my limbs and joints and muscles went stiff and numb, but I hardly noticed. I was too busy watching Cliff. He would be hunched over the paper for a few seconds, drawing furiously, then glance up at me, then he was drawing away again. Every time he glanced up at me, there was this little smile on his face that pretty much told me how much he loved to draw: A lot. When my face was numb from keeping that goofy smile frozen there, I would stick me tongue out at him and cross my eyes, making him laugh out loud and me laugh silently. Basically it was a really fun time for both of us. I didn't even notice the sun going down. That is, until…

The door banged open "Hey Claire, Ann's looking for you"

I looked to the speaker, very hard to do considering how long I had been frozen in place. It was that guy with the baseball cap, Ann's brother. Wasn't his name Gray…?

"Uh, well, I'm sort…" I glanced at Cliff.

Cliff shook his head. "It's fine. It's almost finished anyway. Just a few details from memory."

"If you say so…" I stood up- I swear, I could actually hear my joints creaking like an old lady- and followed Gray out. "Goodbye!"

"See ya later!" I heard Cliff call before the door closed. We were back in the church. I waved a farewell to Carter, who was preoccupied with reading some book at that moment and might not have seen, and followed Gray out of the church.

"So, you met my brother?" Gray asked as we strolled down the cobbled street.

Brother? Cliff and Gray didn't look at all alike. Grey had blue eyes and autumn-red hair, like Ann. But his hair was short and mostly hidden by his hat. Pretty handsome, too. Apple fell far from the tree on Cliff, I guess. "Yah. He's nice."

"He was doing a drawing of you."

"Yep"

"You don't talk much, do you?"

"Sometimes. Sometimes not"

"Me too"

"I know"

"How?"

"I don't know"

Gray laughed, and so did I. But then my foot jarred suddenly against something- hard- and I was falling, face first, onto the hard, hard stones. I closed my eyes, braced for an impact I couldn't prevent. But instead of cold, hard, unforgiving stone, I fell into someone's arms. I opened my eyes. Gray had caught me before I had hit the ground.

"You OK?" He asked. There was worry in his voice.

"Y-yes… Just tripped" I felt me cheeks go pink for a second tome today. I was in his arms I was _in his arms_!! I scrambled myself beck on my feet, hoping he never noticed how red my face was. "I think I'm a little out of it today"

"No prob." He said. He had already regained his composure. We began walking again "It's hard, living here. Especially the first few days"

"Reeaaly?" I asked sarcastically.

"Definitely!" He chuckled. "We all miss our folks, and really, we look like we're twenty or something but we're all just kids"

"Really?" No sarcasm this time.

"Really. Oldest is Harris, he's sixteen. Then two fifteen year girls, one thirteen-almost-fourteen girl who acts more like she's twelve, and the rest of us are all somewhere in the fourteen year zone" He stopped "Well, here we are!"

We had reached the farm. Wow, took almost no time to get here! There was a barking, then a little brown dog hopped into my arms.

"Cracker!" I squealed, petting the hyper little pup.

"Is that your dog?" Gray asked. He was scratching Cracker under the chin.

"Yah. Wanna hold her?" Before Gray could protest, I dumped Cracker into his arms. "Her name is Cracker."

Gray laughed. Cracker was completely covering his face with licks.

"Aww, look, she likes you!" I exclaimed.

The door to the little house swung open and Ann looked out. "There you are! Claire, I wanna show you something"

"Well, better go" I scooped Cracker out of Gray's arms. "Thanks for walking me back. I had fun"

"Me too" Said Gray. "Well, uh, bye for now" He had turned, walking away from the farm, waving goodbye.

"See you!" I called, then turned to Ann. "What?"

"Gonna give you a quick tour." Ann said.

And she did. A little tour around the farm. House at the corner, honey tree past the fish pond, chicken coop near the river, barn at the top, horse stall and woodbin beside that, field in the middle.

"So, you met Gray?" Ann asked as we exited the horse stall. I had just been feeding my horse Candy, who hade somehow been sucked in along with me and Cracker.

"And Carter and Cliff, yah"

"And?"

"There're all really cool."

"You like Mineral Town a bit more now?"

"I…I'm adjusting"

"Good. Now I have a surprise for you" She said as we walked into the house.

"Wha.." Was all I could get out. On the table was a _HUGE _basket. I mean gigantic. And it was stuffed with all sorts of knickknacks and usefuls. From here I could see candles, books, pots, pans, knifes…

"A gift from all Friends of Mineral Town" Ann said, a goofy play on the game we were all in.

I approached the basket. Sitting on top of all those lovely things were two gifts with a note attached to each

_I really had fun with you today. I hope we can do something like that again soon_

_-Cliff _

Said the first one note and

_I enjoyed talking with you. We should do that again sometime_

_-Gray_

Read the second.

I inspected the gifts.

Gray's was a silver chain necklace with a deep blue star-shaped charm hanging from it , catching the light in an indescribably wonderful way and shining as brightly as a real star.

Cliff's was the drawing of the dove he had shown me earlier, and also a picture of me, sitting crossed-legged, chin resting on one hand, tiny mischievous smile on my face.

**Thanks for reading! R&R! Have a nice day! (Again, I sound stupid...)**


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